Chemicalblue Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 So are there any aftermarket mounts to ensure that a high $ alum radiator will last a while? Im just finding out that my Ron Davis Radiator was epoxyed together and it has a leak after mabey 100 hrs of drive time. SUC... $800 now trash. Well now they said the new specs call for 100% welds but i need to make sure it is soft mounted. I search around but no luck on the mounting issue, I really need to get the car back on the dyno to set up for the international z show this month. Any help would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Maudlin Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Do a search. Almost everyone here soft mounted their radiator using some form of rubber. Some even used rubber from tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemicalblue Posted May 12, 2006 Author Share Posted May 12, 2006 I search around but no luck on the mounting issue. Any help would be nice. There is one or two picks of the mounts, but not what im looking for. So are there any aftermarket mounts to ensure that a high $ alum radiator will last a while? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 So are there any aftermarket mounts to ensure that a high $ alum radiator will last a while? Im just finding out that my Ron Davis Radiator was epoxyed together and it has a leak after mabey 100 hrs of drive time. SUC... $800 now trash. Well now they said the new specs call for 100% welds but i need to make sure it is soft mounted. I search around but no luck on the mounting issue, I really need to get the car back on the dyno to set up for the international z show this month. Any help would be nice. Epoxy on a Ron Davis rad? That sounds odd to me - I've had three different Ron Davis rads over the past 10 or so years, and they have all been 100% welded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemicalblue Posted May 12, 2006 Author Share Posted May 12, 2006 Yea you should check and see if they spray painted the inside of the tanks to hide the glue where the core mounts..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators BRAAP Posted May 13, 2006 Administrators Share Posted May 13, 2006 We are a Ron Davis distributor and since 1997, all of the Ron Davis radiators that we have either used on our personal project Z cars or sold for V-8 and L-6 powered Z cars have been 100% welded and none have leaked, (or none of the customers have reported back to us with any leaking issues). I took one of the radiators out of our inventory that fits the ‘74 ½+ Z car with SBC, and took a few pics. It is hard to make out, but looking through the filler neck and both the inlet and outlet, these radiators use no epoxy and are indeed 100% welded. To our knowledge, Ron Davis has always been 100% welded, no epoxy, but that isn’t to say ALL Ron Davis radiators are this way, only the ones we have sold to customers and used our selves. As a side note, $800 seems pretty high for a Ron Davis radiator. Custom Radiators from Ron Davis made to our specifications for L-6 powered Z cars with specific inlet and outlets sizes, inlets and outlets angled to our specifications and with mounting tabs and another tab for mounting an aftermarket coolant recovery tank is less than $500. Is there a chance your radiator is a Be-cool or some other brand or is it just a “very†custom Ron Davis? As for mounting ANY radiator in a Z car that has had the chassis upgraded for improved handling and/or the car is driven aggressively, YES, the radiator should be mounted in such a manner as to be “free floatingâ€. Z cars are flexi-flyers and with aggressive chassis mods coupled with spirited driving, any radiator mounted as the OE intended will eventually get torn up, or at least have the mounting tabs ripped off. If you mount the radiator with two bolts at the top, that will allow it sway side to side as the core support racks back and forth, but that is only acceptable if there is ample room for the radiator to say without hitting the frame rails, which usually is not the case. We don’t offer “floating†radiator mounts, (though we may some time in the future), we leave mounting the radiator up to the individual customer. We do offer the radiators with the optional mounting tabs welded on the radiator tanks for mounting it to the OE core support, (as mentioned above), though we don’t recommend “solid†mounting to the core support , but to isolate or rubber mount it in some way, even using rubber grommets is better than solid mounting especially in Z cars that will experience heavy cornering or torsional loads. Here are some pics that sort of show the floating mounts I built for the Ron Davis radiator in my personal L-28 powered race Z. I machined some aluminum extrusion to accept rubber pads and then “captured†the radiator in those padded mounts so that it essentiality floats allowing the radiator core support to rack and flex all it wants without also trying flex and shred the radiator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemicalblue Posted May 14, 2006 Author Share Posted May 14, 2006 Thanks alot for your time, so often this site offers nothing but "do a search" replys. Yes Im sure that its a RD, Ive been in contact with them all this past week tring to get a replacement. The quote for the custom setup was again $800 @ 6 wk delivery time. With the international Z event comming to DFW I had no more time to wait for RD to help me out. I spoke with them about the epoxy I found when trying to have the unit repaired, their reply was "we stopped doing that 3 years ago". I asked how they could tell a customer they were getting a alll aluminum radiator and really send a unit that the side tanks were glued on and there reply was "we thought it made a better product at the time". They were not willing to help with a price reduction or a good delivery time, so its sad to say they lost a customer. Ive got 2 more club members that the same thing has happend to, so we have decided to take the $800 pos to the event to show others what to watch out for. I cant speak for all RDs stuff or how its made but Im not happy. As for the mounting that helps alot, I thought of using a u shaped channel lined with rubber on the bottom to set the radiator in and bracket like yours on top. Ill post pics of the RD soon Tnx again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators BRAAP Posted May 14, 2006 Administrators Share Posted May 14, 2006 Sorry to hear about your Ron Davis experience. We hope your new vendor will build a radiator that is everything you hope it to be. Everyone that I know that has used Ron Davis radiators has said nothing but praise, your experience is unfortunate to say the least. Being as the current production RD radiators are 100% aluminum and if you’d like to give Ron Davis a 2nd chance, let us know what you need for the custom radiator and we’ll see if we can get one built for less than $800 and possibly done in a shorter time frame. Again, sorry that your Ron Davis experience was a negative one. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Here is what I did with a similar epoxyed Griffin Rad iso mounted. It has been a few years now and no leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 After reading this, I googled on Griffin radiator construction (I have 2 of these). Best I can tell, they are 100% furnace brazed cores then TIG and MIG welded. The expoy is added as additional safeguard against vibration failure. I would assume the Ron Davis was similar, just the initial mounting led to the failure? As soon as I replace the outlet on my radiator I will be mounting it in my Z. I have already TIG welded brackets to the 24x19 Griffin in the OEM Nissan locations, but I see some sort of rubber donut type insulators in my future... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 I as well have a Ron Davis radiator, one of the "DRAG SERIES" that i custom fit in the Z. I've had it for 2 years aprox with no leaking issues. I mounted mine by making little supports that bolt to the core support, the radiator actually just slides into them and sits there.. they have plastic sheeting on them to protect the AL from gauging. And then the top gets siliconed on, along with all along the edges. I would assume the silicone allows it to flex enough, but i have not had any problems. -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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